Kentucky Mayor, Firefighters at Odds Over Flag

Aug. 18, 2004
A brouhaha over proper flag etiquette created ill feelings in recent days between Nicholasville Mayor John Martin and city firefighters.

A brouhaha over proper flag etiquette created ill feelings in recent days between Nicholasville Mayor John Martin and city firefighters.

At issue is when city flags should be lowered at half-staff to honor public-safety employees who died in the line of duty.

On Saturday, city firefighters lowered flags at the city's southern and northern fire stations in memory of Barbara Bordenkircher, a Western Kentucky volunteer firefighter who died in a crash last week while en route to a brush fire near Wickliffe. Martin said he was unaware of the death when he saw the flag flying at half-staff Sunday in front of Nicholasville City Hall, across the street from a third fire station.

When a firefighter couldn't tell the mayor why the flag was at half-staff, Martin directed the city clerk to ask the governor's office if a directive had been issued. Martin later learned from Fire Chief C.E. Brumfield that the flags had been lowered without orders but in keeping with past tradition.

For example, flags were lowered upon the recent deaths of Nicholas-ville City Commissioner Joe Daugherty, Jessamine County Coroner Joe Northup and Fayette County firefighter Lt. Brenda Cowan, and after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Brumfield said.

In any case, Brumfield told the mayor employees had been told not to lower flags without obtaining a directive to do so. "It was my understanding that they were to be raised back up, so that's what we've done," Brumfield said.

So the flags went back up Monday, but that didn't sit well with some firefighters, such as Scott Lewis, who felt that prohibiting an expression of respect over a fallen firefighter "is kind of a slap in our face."

"I mean, they're firefighters, they're our brothers, and our sister, the one who was killed," said another firefighter John Gray. "If we can't express our gratitude for them serving their own community, that's just unacceptable, in my opinion."

Martin said he never ordered the flags raised but was merely asking why they were lowered.

However, in an e-mail to Brumfield that the mayor shared with the newspaper, Martin wrote: "It would be nice if in the future the proper chain of command is used before lowering the American flag so we, the elected officials, will know what to tell the public when we are asked 'Why is the flag at half-staff?'"

In an interview, Martin said, "It's an American flag, not a fire department flag, you know what I'm saying?"

If the flag was lowered for every police officer and firefighter who dies in the line of duty across the United States, it would rarely fly at peak, and that would dilute the honor of flying at half-staff, Martin said. "For our local people, I would never have a problem doing that."

Nevertheless, around noon yesterday, the flag at city hall went back to half-staff, which pleased Lewis and other firefighters. Brumfield said they would be raised to peak again today, and, in the meantime, he hopes to develop a specific protocol on when they are to be lowered.

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